FBI foils Florida man’s plan to blow up stock exchange

Federal investigators alleged that Florida resident Harun Abdul-Malik Yener planned to blow up the New York Stock Exchange building in Manhattan the week before Thanksgiving. His public defense attorney filed papers Thursday showing that Yener invoked his right to silence and attorney representation. Law enforcement arrested him on Wednesday.

What do prosecutors believe motivated Yener to allegedly plan the attack? Yener believed an attack on the Stock Exchange would shake the public and trigger a reset to the U.S. government, according to the FBI’s complaint. The alleged attacker made audio recordings of himself to send to news outlets after the bombing, according to the FBI. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, the Justice Department said in a news release.

What led to his arrest? Authorities began investigating the 30-year-old in February after receiving a tip that he kept bomb-making materials in an unlocked Florida storage unit, according to a criminal complaint against Yener in the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida. The FBI searched the unit and found electronic watches and parts to various electronic circuit boards.

FBI undercover agents posing as militia members later introduced themselves to Yener. He tasked the agents with getting materials for the explosive and conducting surveillance research on where to plant the bomb, according to court documents. Yener made a remote trigger to detonate the bomb and conducted his own surveillance to decide where he would plant the explosive, according to the Department of Justice. Undercover agents recorded audio of Yener likening himself to the Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, likening his planned blast to that of a small nuclear weapon that would destroy everything around it.

Yener also told FBI agents that militant groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys denied Yener because he expressly wanted to become a martyr, according to court documents. The alleged attacker posted YouTube videos with bomb-making tips and lost a restaurant job after making supportive comments about a school shooter, CourtWatch first reported.